In this paper, I address the question of how interactions with deaf youth and their hearing interlocutors are able to unfold in economical and fluid ways despite the existence of sensory and communicative asymmetries. Bringing together ethnographic insights from two years of fieldwork in Iquitos, Peru with the microanalysis of moments of situated…

Investigates the vocal interaction of ten British working-class women and their children (average age of 11.4 months). (MP)

Examines mother-infant gazing during periods of play, bottle feeding, and spoon feeding activities. Subjects were ten 3-month-old twin infants and their mothers. (BD)

This study compared the smiling behavior of 76 infants during a regular day to their smiling during a brief elicitation by the mother and investigated the extent to which a mother is able to intentionally elicit smiling or vocalization. (Author/JMB)

Presents an analysis of the control techniques adopted by the mothers of 15- and 24-month-old children during an eight-minute laboratory play situation. Mothers were requested to take an active role in the interaction by ensuring that the child played with the full range of toys available. (JMB)

Forty-eight mothers and their four- to six-year-old children participated in a controlled disciplinary encounter in which the children's attentiveness was manipulated. Results suggested that parents may use commands to get their children's attention and then use reasoning once their children are listening. (JMB)

The amount and intelligibility of spoken language output were evaluated in 15 deaf children (ages 4 to 9 years) during 15 minutes of free play with either their mothers or a hearing peer. Results indicated that significantly more speech was produced during the children's interactions with their mothers. (Author/DB)

Examined mothers' provision of novel and familiar toy animals during play interactions with infants at ages 0;10, 1;1, 1;5, and 1;9. Analyses indicated that mothers facilitated their children's determination of reference and differentially adjusted their naming practices to novel, comprehended, and familiar animals. Results indicate that maternal…

This longitudinal study of the development of nonverbal behavior in the first 3 years of a child's life focuses on four factors: the relation between physical and vocal interaction between the child and his mother, observed cuses which can be used to interpret the child's communicative intent at different age levels, frequency of occurrence and…

This study explored the relationship between maternal sensitivity and the development of mother-infant vocal interaction. Two characteristics of mother and infant vocalizations were assessed at six and nine months in a home feeding situation: (1) the degree of mutual responsiveness, and (2) the affective quality of vocalization. These assessments…

Describes a study which attempts to place the problem of second language learning and use by bilingual children into a framework of double socialization through the analysis of mother-child and peer group interaction. Ukrainian and Greek second generation mothers and their children aged 5-6 years were observed in four sessions. (SED)

The ontogenetic development of human vocal utterances and their role in early interaction processes were studied with a three-month-old baby. Recordings were made of infant vocalizations in the home and the sounds were classified. During a five-minute segment between the mother and infant, the infant produced 59 utterances, 93 percent of which had…

This paper reports on a longitudinal study involving 48 mother-infant dyads that attempts to explore the role of the caregiver-infant interactional environment in determining cognitive functioning as related to an understanding of environmental contingencies. The present report includes (1) a progress report to date of the longitudinal data…

This paper describes a cross cultural study of face to face interactions between American and Gusii mothers and their infants. Observations of the Gusii people of Western Kenya suggest that the direct expression of intense affect is de-emphasized through an avoidance of direct face to face interactions. The present study investigated (1) how and…

The development of the Conversational Unit (CU) was investigated in a semilongitudinal study of three mother/son dyads in nonstructured spontaneous communication. The children were 19 to 23 months old at the start of the investigation. Sound films were recorded monthly during bathing and feeding times. After four months, verbal and nonverbal…